3020 starting issue

[Anonymous-0]

borrowed my friends 3020 diesel early model (controls on dash) and have been using it without any issues rain or shine. yesterday, a bit rainy/misty out, went to start it and it acted like t he starter engaged, then all was dead. checked wire connections at batteries, one seemed a little loose but not bad. for some reason, gen light (right light on dash) came back on, but would flicker and get brighter when i would jump the solenoid. battery voltage was a bit low on one, only had 11 volts so put the charger on, but to no avail. that was the left battery. right battery had 13 volts. i even tried jumping the solenoid but could not get it to do anything. am a little lost on 24v so thought i best ask here first.
thanks
Gary

 

[elevatorman 724]

sounds like a loose connection or bad ground coming from one of the batteries. either have to go down the line from each battery with a meter looking for voltage drop. or you can jump parts of the battery cables out with jumper cable to find bad connection. could be on feed side or ground side

 

[ET]

What is the voltage at the starter? Check it acrossed the two battery cables, it should be 25 or 26 volts. What does it drop to when you hit the starter. Bad connections will get hot. You might take the cover right off the starter on the tractor and see if the brushes are used up and blow out any residue in there.

 

[gary in neb.]

did not check the big terminal next to block and top of selonioid. else had 14 volts all over. red light on dash got brigther when you pushed the start button. acts like a saftey switch but they check out.

 

[Anonymous-0]

(quoted from post at 15:16:58 09/20/10) borrowed my friends 3020 diesel early model (controls on dash) and have been using it without any issues rain or shine. yesterday, a bit rainy/misty out, went to start it and it acted like t he starter engaged, then all was dead. checked wire connections at batteries, one seemed a little loose but not bad. for some reason, gen light (right light on dash) came back on, but would flicker and get brighter when i would jump the solenoid. battery voltage was a bit low on one, only had 11 volts so put the charger on, but to no avail. that was the left battery. right battery had 13 volts. i even tried jumping the solenoid but could not get it to do anything. am a little lost on 24v so thought i best ask here first.
thanks
Gary

Take both batteries out and charge them. Take them somewhere where they have a load tester that will apply one half the CCA rating on the batteries for fifteen seconds. Voltage should not fall below 10 volts. if it does, you need a new set of heavy duty batteries. If this test is passed post again.

 

[ET]

It sounds like you have lots of battery. If the voltage on the individual batteries doesn't drop below 9 volts when cranking or the combined voltage at the starter not below 18 volts they should be fine. I think you should take the through bolts out of the starter and pull the end cap off the starter. Then you can see the brushes, they are most likly worn down so the holder rests on the stop and the brush is not hitting the armature. A pile of worn off starter brush stuff laying in the starter can feed extra voltage back into the 12 volt sides of the system when you energize the starter.

 

[Tx Jim]

gary in neb
I agree on the battery post cable loose or maybe corroded.

Starter gear(aka Bendix) may be stuck in flywheel ring gear from low voltage.

If it's a Syncro-range have you thought about tow starting? If powershift don't try tow start!